Acceptance | The act of accepting something or someone | 1 |
Adolescence | The period of life when a child develops into an adult | 1 |
Advocate | A person who actively works to end intolerance, educate others, and support social equity for a group | 6 |
Ally | Typically any non-LGBT person who supports and stands up for the rights of LGBT people, though LGBT people can be allies, such as a lesbian who is an ally to a transgender person | 2 |
Arousal | Responsiveness to stimuli | 1 |
Attitudes | The way one thinks and feels about someone or something | 1 |
Attraction | A feeling that makes someone romantically or sexually interested in another person | 1 |
Awareness | Knowing that something (such as a situation, condition, or problem) exists | 1 |
Behavior | Anything that an organism does involving action and response to stimulation | |
Biological diversity | An instance of being composed of differing elements or qualities | 1 |
Bisexual | An individual who is emotionally, romantically, and/or physically attracted to the same gender and different genders. Sometimes stated as “bi.” People who are bisexual need not have had equal sexual experience with people of the same or different genders and, in fact, need not have had any sexual experience at all; it is the attraction that helps determine orientation | 4 |
Cauterization | to burn (something, such as a wound) with heat or a chemical substance in order to destroy infected tissue | 1 |
Chromosomal sex | The sex as determined by the presence of the XX (female) or the XY (male) genotype in somatic cells, without regard to phenotypic manifestations. Called also genetic sex. | 8 |
Chromosomes | Structure found in the nucleus of a cell, which contains the genes. Chromosomes come in pairs, and a normal human cell contains 46 chromosomes. | 3 |
Closeted | Describes a person who is not open about their sexual orientation or gender identity, or an ally who is not open about their support for people who are LGBTQ | 4 |
Coming out | For most people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, the process of self-acceptance that continues throughout one’s life, and the sharing of the information with others. Individuals often establish a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender/gender-nonconforming identity within themselves first, and then may choose to reveal it to others. Coming out can also apply to the family and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender youth or adults when they reveal to others their connection to an LGBTQ person or the community. There are many different degrees of being out: Some may be out to friends only, some may be out publicly, and some may be out only to themselves. It’s important to remember that coming out is an incredibly personal and transformative experience. Not everyone is in the same place when it comes to being out, and it is critical to respect where each person is in that process of self-identification. It is up to each person, individually, to decide if and when to come out or disclose | 4 |
Conform | To behave in a way that is accepted by most people | 1 |
Confusion | A situation in which people are uncertain about what to do or are unable to understand something clearly | 1 |
Denial | Assertion that an allegation is false | 1 |
Depression | A serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way | 1 |
Doubt | To believe that (something) may not be true or is unlikely | 1 |
Dread | To fear greatly | 1 |
Emotional abuse | Includes non-physical behaviors such as threats, insults, constant monitoring or “checking in,” excessive texting, humiliation, intimidation, isolation or stalking | 5 |
Emotions | A strong feeling (such as love, anger, joy, hate, or fear) | 1 |
Endocrinologic sex | The phenotypic manifestations of sex determined by endocrine influences, such as development of breasts and genital organs. | 8 |
Estrogen | A hormone that occurs naturally in women | 1 |
Fear | To be afraid of (something or someone) | 1 |
Feminine | Characteristics associated with women | 1 |
Fetus | A developing human from usually two months after conception to birth | 1 |
Gay | The adjective used to describe people who are emotionally, romantically, or physically attracted to people of the same gender (e.g., gay man, gay people). In contemporary contexts, “lesbian” is often a preferred term for women, though many women use the word “gay” to describe themselves. People who are gay need not have had any sexual experience; it is the attraction that helps determine orientation | 4 |
Gender identity | One’s deeply held core sense of being male, female, some of both, or neither. One’s gender identity does not always correspond to biological sex. Awareness of gender identity is usually experienced as early as 18 months old and reinforced in adolescence | 4 |
Gender queer | A blanket term used to describe people whose gender falls outside of the gender binary | 6 |
Gender spectrum | The concept that gender exists beyond a simple “male/female” binary model, but instead exists on an infinite continuum that transcends the two. Some people fall towards more masculine or more feminine aspects, some people move fluidly along the spectrum, and some identify off the spectrum entirely | 4 |
Generalization | A statement about a group of people or things that is based on only a few people or things in that group | 1 |
Genes | Pieces of DNA that are passed from parents to offspring and contain the information needed to specify traits | 3 |
Genetics | The scientific study of how genes control the characteristics of plants and animals | 1 |
Genome | Entire set of genetic instructions found in a cell | 3 |
Gestation | The time when a person or animal is developing inside its mother before it is born | 1 |
Gonadal sex | The sex as determined on the basis of the gonadal tissue present (ovarian or testicular). | 8 |
Grief | A cause of deep sadness | 1 |
Guilt | A bad feeling caused by knowing or thinking that you have done something bad or wrong | 1 |
Heterosexual | A person who is only attracted to members of the opposite sex. Also called “straight." | 2 |
Homophobia | An aversion to lesbian or gay people that often manifests itself in the form of prejudice and bias. Similarly, “biphobia” is an aversion to bisexuality and people who are bisexual, and “transphobia” is an aversion to people who are transgender. “Homophobic,” “biphobic,” and “transphobic” are the related adjectives. | 4 |
Hormones | A natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops | 1 |
Hypersexual | Exhibiting unusual or excessive concern with or indulgence in sexual activity | 1 |
Innate | Existing from the time a person or animal is born | 1 |
Lesbian | A woman who is emotionally, romantically, and/or physically attracted to other women. People who are lesbians need not have had any sexual experience; it is the attraction that helps determine orientation | 4 |
LGBT | An acronym that collectively refers to individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. It is sometimes stated as “GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bi, and transgender). Occasionally, the acronym is stated as “LGBTA” to include people who are asexual or allies, “LGBTQ,” with “Q” representing queer or questioning | 4 |
Lifestyle | Lifestyle: A negative term often incorrectly used to describe the lives of people who are LGBTQ. The term is disliked because it implies that being LGBTQ is a choice | 4 |
Masculine | Having qualities appropriate to or usually associated with a man | 1 |
Maternal | Of, relating to, belonging to, or characteristic of a mother | 3 |
Monogamous | The state or custom of being married to one person at a time or of having only one mate at a time | 1 |
Monosexuality | When a person is only attracted to one gender | 7 |
Morals | Beliefs based on what one thinks is right and good | 1 |
Morphological sex | Sex determined on the basis of the morphology of the external genitals. | 8 |
Myth | An idea or story that is believed by many people but that is not true | 1 |
Nibling | A gender neutral term for non-binary niece or nephew | 9 |
Nature | The inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing | 1 |
Non-monosexuality | When a person is attracted to people of more than one gender | 7 |
Nuclear sex | The sex as determined on the basis of the presence or absence of sex chromatin in somatic cells, its presence normally indicating the XX (female) genotype, and its absence the XY (male) genotype. | 8 |
Nurture | The sum of the environmental factors influencing the behavior and traits expressed by an organism | 1 |
Out | Describes people who openly self-identify as LGBTQ in their private, public, and/or professional lives | 4 |
Outing | when someone reveals another person’s sexuality or gender identity to an individual or group, often without the person’s consent or approval; not to be confused with “coming out” | 6 |
Pibling | A gender neutral term for aunt or uncle | 9 |
Partner | A person with whom one shares an intimate relationship | 1 |
Preferred gender pronouns | A preferred gender pronoun, or PGP, is the pronoun or set of pronouns that an individual would like others to use when talking to or about that individual. In English, the singular pronouns that we use most frequently are gendered (ex. she, he), which can create an issue for transgender and gender-nonconforming people, who may prefer that you use gender neutral or gender-inclusive pronouns when talking to or about them (ex. they, their) | 4 |
Prejudice | An unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc. | 1 |
Prenatal | Occurring, existing, performed, or used before birth, such as prenatal care, the prenatal period, prenatal testing, prenatal vitamins | 3 |
Queer | A term used by some people—particularly youth—to describe themselves and/or their community. Reappropriated from its earlier negative use, the term is valued by some for its defiance, by some because it can be inclusive of the entire community, and by others who find it to be an appropriate term to describe their more fluid identities. Traditionally a negative or pejorative term for people who are gay, “queer” is still sometimes disliked within the LGBT community. Due to its varying meanings, this word should only be used when self-identifying or quoting someone who self-identifies as queer (i.e. “My cousin identifies as genderqueer.”) | 4 |
Questioning | For some, the process of exploring and discovering one's own sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression | 2 |
Sex hormones | Glandular secretions involved in the regulation of sexual functions. The principal sex hormone in the male is testosterone, produced by the testes. In the female the principal sex hormones are the estrogens and progesterone, produced by the ovaries. These hormones influence the secondary sex characters, such as the shape and contour of the body, the distribution of body hair, and the pitch of the voice. The male hormones stimulate production of spermatozoa in men, and the female hormones control ovulation, pregnancy, and the menstrual cycle in women. | 8 |
Sexual orientation | Emotional, romantic, or sexual feelings toward other people. People who are straight experience these feelings primarily for people of a different gender than their own. People who are gay or lesbian experience these feelings primarily for people of the same gender; people who are bisexual experience these feelings for people of different genders though not always at the same time | 4 |
Social norms | Something (such as a behavior or way of doing something) that is usual or expected | 1 |
Support | To give help or assistance to (someone or something) | 1 |
Testosterone | A hormone that occurs naturally in men and male animals | 1 |
Transgender | A person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth | 1 |
Ultimatum | A final proposition, condition, or demand whose rejection will end negotiations and lead to force or other direct action | 1 |
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